1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flame reactor, particularly to a burner for use therein, more particularly to a reactor for combining bromine and hydrogen to produce hydrogen bromide.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although flame reactors have been used in the prior art for the production of hydrogen bromide from bromine and hydrogen, it is well known that flame reactors are difficult to control and are prone to serious instability when reacting bromine and hydrogen. The problem of flame stability is particularly acute with prior art systems using the desired stoichiometric proportions (about 1:1 mol ratio) of hydrogen and bromine to minimize the amount of unreacted reactants present in the HBr product. With prior art flame reactors, the use of feed mixtures containing more than 45 (mol) percent bromine is characterized by cone-shaped flames which are difficult to ignite, which flicker markedly and which easily lift off the burner which latter condition is usually undesirable with prior art burners. Such flames usually have elongated cones frequently with holes in the center or at the edges through which the reactants escape without burning.
The stability problem with prior art flame reactors when reacting hydrogen and bromine is much more severe than when reacting chlorine and hydrogen to produce hydrogen chloride. The chlorine-hydrogen flame reaction is usually stable even with simple coaxial tubular burner designs. Although such simple flame reactor burners can be used for prolonged periods with chlorine, they are not suitable for the reaction of hydrogen and bromine to produce hydrogen bromide. Usually if such burners can be adjusted to provide a reasonably stable flame with bromine they have a very short useful life.